Haptix: The Device Pushing Multi-touch and 3D Interaction to the Next Level, Replacing Keyboard

Don’t look down. Your keyboard is filthy. What if you could toss it? What if you could type, interact and control devices using a 3-dimensional multi-touch interface… on any surface? The Haptix Kickstarter campaign, headed up by co-founders Darren Lim and Lai Xue, is in full swing, passing the $100k funding goal, heading toward a $150k stretch goal and pushing multi-touch and 3D interaction to the next level. Haptix is set to disrupt multi-touch, replace the mouse and, with news released today, the keyboard as well.

ASETNIOP meet Haptix

Until now, Haptix turned any surface, be it glass, wood or meat into a multi-touch panel, replacing the dependence on a mouse. So why couldn’t it replace the keyboard as well? Zack Dennis, creator of ASETNIOP, the 10-finger keyboard that boils multi-touch typing down to its purest form, thought the same. (Try it here.) Zack is also the creator of the DexType app for the Leap Motion controller. He reached out to the Haptix crew believing that Haptix is the first 3D sensing solution to put ASETNIOP on any surface.

“The best typists work by touch – and I believe that a touch-based system is the future of keyboard replacement. Methods that rely heavily on disambiguation or predictive technology have limited application and will never genuinely replace the traditional (or even virtual) keyboard. ASETNIOP allows for true touch-typing on any flat surface, and I’m thrilled that the Haptix team has chosen to include it as part of their revolutionary system.” – Zack Dennis

Here’s how ASETNIOP with Haptix works…

Pretty slick, eh? So now, Haptix turns any surface into a mouse/keyboard combo to interact with any element on your screen. Even though I get the sense that many would have major withdrawal symptoms from the absence of a keyboard’s clickity-clack, this device and the integration with ASETNIOP deliver a minimal, efficient approach to interaction. Personally, I’m all for ditching the keyboard cords and rechargable wireless mouse docks for a device that integrates them both. And if you’re not convinced that the device can be used beyond a flat surface and interaction with 2D games, Darren has told us interaction with 3D CAD geometry will be revealed soon.

The early bird batch for the device is all gone, but you can still pick one up on the Kickstarter campaign for $65 with shipment of the Haptix estimated for February of 2014. Ready to ditch your keyboard?

Josh is founder and editor at SolidSmack.com, founder at Aimsift Inc., and co-founder of EvD Media. He is involved in engineering, design, visualization, the technology making it happen, and the content developed around it. He is a SolidWorks Certified Professional and excels at falling awkwardly.